Taken during COVID, so I attended only a few lectures and never went to discussion. I think if you have a passion for math, you'll absolutely love the topics in this class like I did, and you'll have no issue with the fact that his exams take (much) longer than they're designed for. I spent an entire day on the final, but it was in a subject I enjoy so I was fine with it. The book is great, and that's why I didn't find the need to attend lectures/discussion, everything is covered pretty well (and if something popped up on an exam that was foreign, then you just check the recordings for a similar problem). Two midterms and a final, with a grading scheme that drops a midterm but makes the final worth more, even with both schemes though it does seem pretty tough to get a raw A.

There's probably better professors for your GPA, but if you find the idea of an exam that is genuinely difficult (unique problems every time) and super satisfying to solve, this is your guy. I do think that having to take these exams in person would have been pretty stressful, since it took a lot of thought to even approach many of the problems, but maybe he designed them around that idea this year.

I took this class with Cameron in Winter 2020. I was scared given the reviews, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I found it helpful to sit in the front because he can go kind of fast and his handwriting wasn't the most clear. He held 2 hours of office hours a week, and they were often really helpful. There is only a couple of homework problems actually due at the end of the week (around 5 - 6), but he expects you to be comfortable with the 30 others he assigns per chapter. I don't think most people did them.

There are also weekly multiple choice quizzes on CCLE, but the kicker are the exams. The average for midterm 1 was somewhere in the 50's, and for midterm 2 in the 60's. The final for the average was in the 70's (although it was held online, 24 hrs, and was very difficult). His tests require you to be really comfortable with the material, especially proofs and partitions. I found this class hard given I had no proof background and Math 61, and he didn't really teach any proof methods. Basically this class was pretty easy if you've already seen a lot of this stuff before, but for CS majors who haven't, Cameron's class is tough.

Do not take his class in any circumstance unless you are a big fan of math and have too much free time to waste. His homework takes forever and you cannot find any clue to it on the internet or from the textbook. The questions are often stuff from upper -division classes. His lectures are full of definition and theorem with few examples. The result is that i can understand nothing but those dull definitions after the lectures. Every time i work on the hw, i want to die.

I actually am taking Math 32B in the spring of 2020, but it was not an option.

Cameron is a really nice guy with a decent sense of humor.

However, he basically uptalks the entire lecture, just repeats out loud what hes writing down instead of explaining it, and talks about his fucking sourdough bread farm. DO NOT TAKE HIM IF YOU CAN.

Only 4 weeks of the quarter we have assigned homework, so 4 homework assignments, but the stuff does NOT relate to the class at all. He tries to incorporate material from 33A, and random shit like "holomorphic" equations that dont even pertain to the class material. I'm not a math major and I dont care about all this random stuff... just teach me the material...

Well, kids, if you need to take Math 61, and this is your only option for a professor for that quarter, change majors. I don't think I have ever gone from being very interested in a subject to hating it in a fifty minute period, but the first midterm in Winter 2020 did that for me. Thinking that, despite my newfound hatred, I could rebound and find a new interest in the subject again by slaying the second midterm, I attempted to do so, only to find my hopes and dreams crushed once again by the weight of an even harder second midterm. Now, it was too late to drop the class, so I knew that my only salvation was the final. Frankly, if it had not been for COVID-19, I think I would have landed a C or a C- in this class, but since we were allotted 24 hours to finish the final, and given open-book privileges, I was able to scrape by with a B- instead. Don't think that wasn't without incredible anxiety and stress, however. I worked on that final for a little over 18 hours, and his words were something along the lines of "...this test was still created to be completed in the standard 3 hour period, but you will be given 24..." Let me put it this way; If I had walked into the lecture hall to do the final and I had sat down, only to open it and see that monstrosity, I would have done one of two things: A. leave the lecture hall and move to another country, or B. screamed at the top of my lungs that this professor is batshit for thinking that his students were capable of completing such an asinine test in such a short time. The thing is, Cameron seems personable and approachable, but I can't possibly allow that to come through in this review, because future students might sue my for fraud.

Avoid at all costs. And if you don't, pray he has read this review, as well as the undoubtedly innumerable awful student surveys he received, and changed his mind about how to administer tests.

His lectures were never clear, and I relied on my TA, textbook, and online resources to study the material. Taking a course with him is a waste of your money and time. His homework is never covered in class, and you have to learn the material on your own.

In general, James Cameron is a catastrophe of the math department. He should be fired immediately. I am not sure why the department does not ban him from teaching any course at all and just deduct his salary that should be paid for teaching instead.

He is easily the worst math professor I have ever had at this university. He is a god awful lecturer with handwriting to match. He literally just flings concepts that are either completely useless and ends up getting lost in thought or stuff that is super simple. Honestly, the second part would not be bad if his midterms weren't made to be only doable by the entire Wolfram Alpha's server farm. I did everything in my power to get a good grade in this class and I know for a fact that I did. I attended every lecture, did every single homework problem, including the extra practice problems, did every single practice midterm and anything else he gave us. Still could not do well on both the midterms for the life of me. His midterm averages also indicate just as much considering that they were in the low 50's for both. I even heard students crying during the first midterm because it was so brutal. The final, despite being online, open book, and given 24 hours to do it, was the hardest most awful midterm I have ever taken. I worked for 18 hours and still could not finish the final and ended up having to bs some questions because of the sheer amount of nonsense gibberish he put on it. I am by no means just some random stupid kid. Until this professor I thought that as long as you put work into the class you will do fine regardless of the professor. I have never gotten below an A in a class either but somehow this man absolutely changed my mind. I am going to HUNT for good professors from now on out because of how he ruined my god damn mental health.

Let's start with facts. Test scores:
First Exam: Median was 25/50. The top 20% was 38 or better, and the bottom 20% was 15 or so.
Second Exam: Median was about 59%.
Final: Median of 62.5/90, so about 70%. Keep in mind that due to Covid-19, we were given an online exam so 24 hours and open notes, open book.

Grading Scheme:
Homework: 10 %, Reading Quizzes: 5 %, Exam One: 25 %, Exam Two: 25 %, Final Exam: 35 %
OR:
Homework: 10 %, Reading Quizzes: 5 %, Highest Exam score: 35 %, Final Exam: 50 %

The homework is very light, 3-4 problems a week. There is 1 reading quiz per week which is online, open note, open book, no time limit and on the sections assigned for reading. In my opinion, these are meant to boost your grade because of the difficulty of the exams.

Professor Cameron gives his first midterm very early into the quarter, so much so that when you get your grade back you still have the option of dropping the class. I found his exams to be very difficult, however he does take problems from lectures and worksheets and puts them on the exams. MAKE SURE YOU CAN DO THE WORKSHEET PROBLEMS. They suck, but it is the best way to be prepared (not sure why people said he doesn't, I can literally name problems from all 3 exams that he has used before :p ). I made the mistake of not reviewing the worksheets and didn't realize until it was too late.

Professor Cameron is pretty chill. He does crack jokes in lecture, although due to the topic early on it can be boring. He answers questions well, I find that his handwriting isn't the best, so sit close to the board if you can.

If I had to guess, my final average was slightly below a 70, high 60s. Professor Cameron lowers the cutoffs for each grade based on performance at the end of the quarter, so I guess that qualified me for a B. I wouldn't retake this class again, but I think thats more due to the material than professor, not sure.

TLDR: exams suck, MAKE SURE YOU REVIEW THE WORKSHEETS, and do well on the homeworks and reading quizzes, the class is doable if you put the work in.

Math 61 with Cameron was an extremely difficult class, albeit a very interesting one. The material in this class was super interesting and applicable (especially if you are a CS major), however Cameron's emphasis on the more theoretical nature of the class got a bit tiresome. The overall workload of the class was extremely low with only a few homework problems due per week. These homework problems did not prepare you for the tests, however. In discussion sections, Cameron would provide worksheets that contained very difficult questions, often more similar to the tests, that we would work on in groups. Unfortunately, the answers to these worksheets would never be posted online afterwards, which was unfortunate since they would have been a good study tool.

The exams in this class, however, were on another level compared to a lot of other 61 classes. Cameron prefers to take very theoretical problems that require a lot of creativity and put them on the tests. This often requires you to construct fairly elaborate proofs within a crunched 50 minute period. This resulted in the averages being very low for the midterms (around 50%).

The final in this class was unique since it was a take-home final due to the coronavirus shutdown. We had 24 hours for the final and it was open book, open notes, and open internet. While this sounds like an amazing deal, it was still close to impossible. While Cameron said that the test would be no longer or harder than it would have been in class, this was absolutely false. I was able to do the practice midterms in a reasonable amount of time and they felt similar to the midterms in difficulty. Our final, however, was extremely difficult despite having access to all the information we wanted. I ended up having to spend 9 hours taking the final because it seemed as if the test was specifically designed to not have any similar solutions online, which inherently meant the material was much harder. For reference, the average score on the final was 70% despite everyone having 24 hours and open everything.

While the exams in this class were awful and I wish some of the class had been more application-focussed instead of theoretical, Cameron was still a very good professor overall who made the subject interesting.

He is the worst professor ever. Terribly disorganized and confusing lectures, totally chaotic and disastrous exams. Every time he fails to explain stuff clearly, he would just say hah this is interesting, this is cool blablabla.

Exams borrow heavily from homework problems, like 80% just copy and paste. Complete waste of time.